Over the past decade, advancements in the realm of (AI) have spurred shifts and growth across technology, social connection, and global industries, such as e-commerce, health care, and more. As we look forward to 2022, it's expected that we will continue to see advancements in the evolution of AI and its broader adoption across a more significant number of industries the world over.

Liziana Carter is the founder and CEO of Grow AI, a chatbot agency that uses conversational AI to instantly connect consumers to eCommerce businesses via Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM Automation, and WhatsApp Automation. 

Her solution helps consumers buy easier by creating unique experiences at every step of their customer journey. She is a former Microsoft Practice Lead and started Grow AI in 2019, aiming to build a business that would impact the current economic landscape.

Mission Critical recently sat down with Carter to ask her about what trends and evolutions we might expect to see in the months to come as we navigate through 2022. Here’s what she had to say.

Mission Critical: Before we dive in, could you give our readers some insight into your professional background in the realm of AI?

Carter: My background and education are in business administration and accounting, which I did for many years before starting my own online business. I began building chatbots in 2016 while running my online fitness business. Fast-forward to 2019 — that’s when I opened a chatbot agency aiming to work with gyms and medspas. Soon after, COVID hit, and they went out of business. So, I had to pivot. I chose e-com as my target market, and I quickly realized that chatbots were sacrificing their full potential without the AI component.

I taught myself Google's AI and merged all my previous learnings to build a complete solution. Then, I began reaching out to CEOs of e-commerce companies with a drive to over-deliver. My first chatbot raked in over $100,000 in revenue in only three weeks. A year later, that same chatbot generated $3 million in extra revenue for my client. It was challenging, but, now, I have a framework that delivers measurable and predictable e-commerce results.

Mission Critical: Can you tell us more about Grow AI and its role in e-commerce?

Carter: When an online shopper interacts with an e-commerce brand on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp, we utilize multilingual AI-Assisted chatbots to assist them throughout each step of the buying process in an omnichannel format.

The e-commerce business can then design and implement unique experiences tailored to each buyer in the context of their needs, leading to faster checkouts and happier customers. This translates to significant value-added revenue generated without that e-commerce business having to double or triple its customer outreach campaign efforts.

Mission Critical: What are some consumer sectors that you expect to see adopt AI more broadly in 2022?

Carter: I expect more e-commerce brands will pick up on it as they realize the value and ROI they can achieve. Automation has become an integral part of delivering a winning customer experience since Facebook Messenger automation became available five years ago.

I expect this will continue to be the case in 2022, with the addition of AI. A decade ago, there was still very little known about AI and its benefits to businesses and customers alike, which made a lot of people wary of using it or integrating it into their business operations. Now, we have hundreds — if not thousands — of case studies from leading organizations that clearly showcase its benefits.

With more online brands adopting AI, I believe we’ll also see a more significant number of businesses in other customer-facing industries start to pick up on this next year.

Mission Critical: How has AI changed the way customers shop online, and how might this change or evolve as we move into 2022?

Carter: AI delivers immediacy, which is what makes the difference when it comes to shopping online. Consumers want easy, effective interactions that are highly personal and contextual to their specific needs. And they want everything now. If they can engage with an AI-assisted chatbot and immediately find answers to their questions or solve a problem, you as the business might win a customer who wants to stay. Given this situation, we’ll likely see businesses pay the appropriate attention to having a dedicated team handle the conversational AI department.

Furthermore, Instagram DM automation is due to support AI in the next few months. That will be big, as Instagram DM automation was only opened to the general public in August 2021, and many businesses are already very interested in its potential.

Mission Critical: You mentioned earlier that even a decade ago, a large portion of the world considered AI more controversial than today. Do you expect to see any other controversial AI innovations in 2022?

Carter: I believe we'll see conversational AI become useful, not controversial, thus gaining a high implementation rate.

Mission Critical: Do you think that more demographics of consumer markets are ready for the next evolutionary stage of AI, especially conversational AI?

Carter: When the COVID pandemic hit early in 2020, the world saw the equivalent of 10 years of e-commerce growth in three months. That told us that consumer markets are ready for the next stage and need it to evolve at this fast pace. Imagine big brands with millions of online shoppers trying to deliver the same value to them as the scale. It is simply not doable unless they leverage some form of automation combined with AI.

Consumers have very specific questions and needs that can be solved with the help of AI. For example, asking particular questions in a specific context. Let’s say: “How much does it cost? How much is that in Mexican pesos? And how do I order, please?”

An AI-assisted Facebook Messenger chatbot will understand the question's intent (the topic) and the context it’s being asked in. More so, it’s also able to pick up if they’re asking in a different language and switch to it instantly. This alone can make the difference between visitors purchasing on the spot or not.

Mission Critical: What are some facets of controversial, language-based AI that you wish more people knew about?

Carter: Like with anything, there are poor AI experiences too. I wish businesses put more effort into training their team to handle AI full time. It’s not as easy as implementing it, then forgetting about it. Conversational AI requires an entire team to handle conversational design, strategy, copywriting, AI training, troubleshooting, and more.